Supermoon
by Paralax
Summary: Celestial events have influenced benders since the beginning of time. A little known fact is that the Avatar can sometimes be more susceptible to said events. Rated K for really, really big moons.


Korra watched the sun rise from the roof of her room on Air Temple Island. She sipped at her tea and breathed in the crisp pre-dawn air. She couldn't get moments like this back home, where for a decent stretch the sun was either always up or always down. It was beautiful.

She slapped the back of her neck, feeling the tiny corpse of some bug on her palm. Then again, there were drawbacks to everything.

And yet, as she wiped her hand against the cool tiles of the roof, she felt good about today. Korra couldn't describe it, something just felt right about the next couple of days. She set down her tea cup and streteched, feeling full of energy.

Korra finished her tea and walked back into the house. She could smell breakfast down in the dining area – something with eggs – and hurried as fast as she could. Bolin and Asami were already sitting there, eating and chatting over eggs and bread and fruit. "Oh, hey Korra," Bolin said. "You're up early."

"Am I?" asked Korra, who gathered a plate of food and started eating. "I feel like it's you two that are up early. And where's Mr. Mako?"

"Still asleep – he had to put in an extra couple hours down at the power plant. I guess you could say his energy has been sapped lately," he gestured for acceptance at his joke. Korra smiled.

Asami set down her fork. "I betcha he volted out of there as fast as he could once he was done."

"Ooh, wait," Korra said, "That job must really be bugging him. Yeah?"

Bolin and Asami gave blank expressions. "Y'know," Korra said, "Like a lightning bug?"

"Ohh," Bolin exclaimed, slapping his forehead, "Like a lightning bug. Good one, Korra!" He laughed and high-fived her. Asami went back to her food.

"Yeah," Korra said, "But seriously, that job must suck."

"More people are getting scared because of Amon and the Equalists and not showing up," said Asami, "So he's having to pull more of his weight. He is getting paid more, though. We may or may not have a treat for you guys later this week."

"Aww, I hate secrets," Bolin pouted.

"Well this one will be worth it, sweetie," Asami said.

"Generating lightning," said Korra, "Wonder what it'd be like to harness that much power. Ah, maybe someday." She shrugged and ate some more of her eggs.

"So people can be taught how to lightning-bend?" asked Asami, "For some reason I thought that firebenders either could or couldn't do it."

"Yeah, I mean, there is a technique to it," Korra said, "But it's really difficult stuff. Like healing. You can only teach both so far, and the remainder has to be picked up by the bender. A bender has to have the talent as well as the raw power to pull something off like lightning or metalbending."

"Uhh, Korra?" interjected Bolin, "Your glass is spinning."

"What? Oh." Korra's daydreaming had caused her to unconsciouly swirl the water in her glass. It was moving fast enough that the cup was slowly rotating. She stopped it. "Sorry about that. I know, no bending at the table, it's just- I don't know, I feel good about the next couple days."

"Really? I could use a good day," Asami said, taking a sip of her fruit juice and rolling her eyes.

"Me too," Korra and Bolin said at the same time. Bolin raised his glass. "To a good day, hopefully," he said.

Korra and Asami clinked glasses with him. Korra took a long swig, thinking about the water pouring into her mouth. She knew that healing was a poor comparison to lightning. There was another subset of waterbending that she failed to mention. It popped in her head first, but she was sworn to secrecy on it by Sifu Katara herself.

Asami was a bit of a romantic.

Not in the mushy sort of way. She could enjoy a good romance novel without crying her eyes out, but neither was she as emotionless as a rock. When she was a girl, the lonely times were filled with books. And early on, she was filled with this hope that someday, she would be saved by some prince and be whisked away to a whole new world that was filled with adventure and not boring stuff like her father's meetings or being 'proper'.

As she grew older and more adventurous, she learned a couple things. The first was that her younger self was an idiot and that she was going to have to save herself. The second was that Republic City was _awesome_. Almost mindblowingly so. As she rode the ferry to Air Temple Island, she marveled at the skyline, twinking against the nearly-set sun. Her city was beautiful, and even though she planned to travel at some point, she knew that she would call the city home for the rest of her life.

The ferry docked and Asami got off, pulling with her the final box of 'evidence' the courts decided she could have. Her precious cars and other belongings were still locked up, but at least she had enough possessions from her old life to recreate her old room. She looked in the box in her hands. Tattered, well-worn romance novels mixed in with mechanic manuals and other how-to literature. Asami smiled to herself.

As she walked up the path to her new home, she heard heavy footsteps behind her. She turned. Korra was running up behind her, obviously having been out on a long run. She was wearing running shorts and a tank top. Asami took a brief moment to marvel at how beautiful the Avatar was. Granted, it was more a strong beauty versus her own soft beauty, but beauty was beauty. She set down the box. "Hey, Korra," Asami said.

"Hey," she said, running past her and up to the Temple. Asami shrugged and picked up the box. She was hoping for a little conversation before a late dinner, but that could wait. They were sharing a room and already the social barriers between them were melting like butter on a piece of Pema's bread. Her stomach grumbled at the tasty image.

Asami made it up to her room, where she set the box down next to the others she hadn't unpacked yet. Still a lot of work to do, she thought to herself as she walked into the bathroom. She started the sink and dabbed at her face with a washcloth.

Korra came bursting in, panting and stripping as she entered the room. She closed the door and saw Asami. "Oh hey," she said, "You mind if I do this real fast? I need to meet Tenzin down at the Memorial and-"

Asami nodded and turned to face away. "Take all the time you need," she said. In truth, Asami found the gesture rude, but Korra was the Avatar, and she supposed that granted her the ability to do something like this.

"Oh, you can look if you want. We're going to be roommates, might as well get comfortable with it, right?"

Asami raised an eyebrow at that. That didn't sound like Korra at all – what was she doing? "No, that's fine," Asami said, "I was just leaving." She heard the shower being turned on... but no water hitting the floor.

She turned around. Korra was collecting the water in a waterbending bubble, mixing in some soap with her free hand. Asami watched as Korra whipped the sweat off of her body with her free hand, then doused herself with the bubbly mixture. She didn't even scrub – she simply guided the water over her body in what was one of the most elegant uses of waterbending Asami had ever seen. She collected clean water, rinsed herself off, and she was done. She pulled out the excess water from her hair and skin and started dressing. "Wow," Asami said, "I've never seen someone do that before."

"Well I'm in a bit of a rush," Korra said, "But hey, that was cool, right? That usually takes a ton of concentration, even for me, but that was super easy." She finished putting on her hair bands, slipped on a band over her right bicep, and bolted out the door with a quick 'bye'.

Asami shook her head and went back to fixing her eyeliner. The Avatar was an odd one. But her abilities were nothing to be ignored.

Bolin and Pabu walked along the shore of the island. It was a beautiful midmorning, and everyone was out doing things – Asami at the courthouse, Mako at his job, Korra somewhere on the island doing Avatar stuff – and to be quite frank he felt rather useless. He sighed as Pabu explored the rocks around them, occassionally skittering away from the tides. Bolin could see the setting moon, nearly full, slowly start to disappear below the horizon.

Pabu started chittering at something. Bolin turned and saw that the tide had receded almost ten meters into the water. Pabu cautiously walked onto the damp sand, sniffing at the newly exposed rocks. Bolin waited for the water to come back in and swamp Pabu.

But it didn't. In fact, the water held its position at about ten meters out. Bolin looked up and down the coastline – same situation everywhere. What in spirits was-

He heard someone behind him. Surprised, he spun around, pulling up a stone from the ground.

Korra was standing at the top of the cliffs that dotted this side of the islands, hands in the air and a big grin on her face. "Hey," she called down, "Guess what?"

Bolin looked confused. "What?"

In response, Korra started doing what looked like a waterbending form. Bolin turned around again. The water was starting to vertically rise up from the ground. Soon it was five meters above Bolin's head. "Uh, Korra," he called back nerviously.

The water started to fall. Bolin ran back towards the cliffs, but he was too close. The impact of the water caused it to shoot inland, and Bolin was drenched in saltwater. He felt a soft something impact his stomach and found Pabu, also drenched and shivering, grabbing onto his soaked clothes. Bolin coughed and wiped the sea from his eyes.

He heard a grinding sound – Korra was sliding down the cliffs towards them. "Hey guys," Korra said, "Wasn't that awesome?" She flicked her wrists and pulled the water off of Bolin and Pabu. A small pile of salt formed around them and she started playing with the water. Making a ring around her and twisting it into different shapes.

Bolin laughed. "Yeah, that was pretty cool. Why did you do that, though? You scared Pabu. And where were you last night?"

Korra shrugged, flinging the water high into the air. Bolin watched it travel up and up, until he could barely see it anymore. "I was with Tenzin at the Memorial," Korra said, "Working on airbending. And I don't know – I just felt like I could do it. And I did! Man, wasn't that fantastic?" She caught the falling water and flung it out into the bay. "Okay," she said, "I need to get back to Tenzin."

"Why'd you leave him? He's your teacher, isn't he?"

"Beacuse I had the idea to do that." Her grin was practically plastered onto her face. She looked like she had just drunk a gallon of Energy Tea – a manufactured drink that was hailed for its energy-inducing properties. She could barely stand still, it seemed, pacing on the shore of the island. Bolin noticed that the tide was similarly shifting back and forth, in sync with Korra's movements.

"Alright," Korra said, ending Bolin's thought, "I need to head back."

"Do you want an Earthbending lift?"

"Nah," said Korra, "This'll be more fun."

Korra ran into the water, diving in. She disappeared for a few seconds before emerging with a surfboard... made of ice? There was a rumbling sounds, and a wave started to appear underneath her. Bolin watched as the wave grew and grew before finally shifting north, and Korra rode the wave up the coastline. "Man," Bolin said to Pabu, "She is one crazy powerful bender."

Behind him, the moon was beginning to disappear below the horizon.

Mako knew that something was off with Korra.

She was usually super aggressive when they sparred. It wasn't pure firebender-y aggressive – her waterbending heritage allowed her some go-with-the-flow motions that a firebender wouldn't be caught dead doing – but today something was off. She was almost exclusively using waterbending forms to formulate her attacks, yet she was still shooting fire out of her hands. Mako was impressed that she was able to keep the two bending school seperate in her mind and yet mix them together in a lethal way.

Their session finished, and Mako bent down, panting. The midday sun was a boon for him, but he felt like it weakened her. "You doing alright?" Mako asked.

"Yeah," Korra said, stretching her leg on the ground, "Why?"

"Your attacks seemed a little weak."

"Well it is the middle of the day, Mako. Even though I prefer fire, I'm naturally a waterbender. This time of the day sucks for me."

"And yet you were this close to attacking me with water the entire time."

"Again, natural waterbender."

"It's just that I've never noticed you like that before. We've had midday practices before and you were doing great."

Korra sat down at the edge of the training area, which overlooked the part of the coast that faced the sea. Mako sat down next to her. Korra smiled and punched him in the shoulder. "I'm doing fine," she said, "great, actually. I can't explain it, but I've been full of bending energy lately."

"Well not firebender energy, that's for sure. Also, geez." He felt her forehead. "Are you always that cold?"

"Waterbender, buddy." She felt his forehead. "Yeah, you're a little hot."

"But you felt freezing – waterbenders aren't usually that cold, right?"

Korra shrugged. "No idea." She seemed to dive into thought for a moment, then stood up. She launched a powerful side kick, and from her foot erupted a ball of fire that travelled fowards a few meters before fizzling out.

"Huh," she said, "I think you're right."

"What?"

"That felt... weak." She tried again. The same fireball erupted. "Yeah, that's weird." She shrugged. "That's one of the things they don't tell you as the Avatar – having multiple elements inside of you can get a little weird."

"How so?"

"Well, for starters, as you can see, one element can get moody sometimes. Sure, the sky and such affects me just like other benders, but moreso."

"So you're more sensitive?"

"No, the changes are just bigger. And they can be random, too. Back when I was at the South Pole, for a solid hour my waterbending just cut out. It was gone. I couldn't do anything. I was like eight and scared out of my mind. They later explained to me that it was a lunar eclipse. For most benders it just severly weakened their bending, but for me for some reason, it was totally gone. I got really into astronomy after that. I understand the movement of the stars and can anticipate when stuff like this is going to happen. But right now, I don't know why, but my waterbending is off of the charts. Watch this:"

She stood up and walked to the center of the training ground. She breathed in deeply and extended one hand into the air. Nothing happened. Then Mako noticed a shimmer in her extended hand. Water droplets were forming on her hand. They appeared slowly at first, then faster, until there was a gob of water about the size of Pabu. She then took the water and extended it into a whip, performing a traditional form with it. Except wait a minute, Mako thought, that's not a water whip. That's an ice whip. She was able to control the ice to the point where it had the fluidity of water. He took a step back from her, watching as she seemed to phase out of reality and become her bending.

Mako watched as Korra took the whip and compressed it into a ball about the size of Pabu's head. Then she threw it up into the air, where it travelled for a bit before exploding into a ball of ice crystals. They fell softly and landed on the two of them like snow. Korra looked at Mako and shrugged, then walked off of the sparring area and towards the house. "I'm gonna grab lunch," she called back.

Mako stared at the ice crystals in disbelief. He had never seen anyone do anything of that nature, and Korra did it without breaking a swear.

Something was off with Korra. He started heading towards the ferry landing area. His shift at the power plant started soon, but he needed to find Bolin and Asami afterwards.

He found one of the Air Acolytes and asked her to tell Tenzin that he, Bolin, and Asami weren't going to be at dinner. They had a prior engagement.

"So what you're telling me," Asami said, setting down her chopsticks, "Is that Korra's turning into a sort of super-waterbender?"

"To the point where it's affecting her firebending, yeah."

Bolin slurped down some noddles. "I dunno, bro," he said, "Maybe it's just an Avatar thing. And the full moon's supposed to peak early tomorrow morning, so there's that."

"But the moon was set for like an hour before we started sparring," Mako said, "So it's not the moon. And how did you know that?"

"It was in the paper."

"Since when do you read the paper?"

"Since I started having to take the ferry every day and needed something to do. Besides, I like the comics. But yeah, big full moon tomorrow morning, right before sunrise."

That statement seemed to awaken something in Asami she stood up and started walking around, like she was looking for something. "Asami, sweetie," said Mako, "What are you doing?"

Asami started talking to an old man, and she seemed to trade a yuan coin for his paper, The Republic City Examiner. She brought it back to the table and started flipping through it. Finally, she stopped on a small article. "Here it is," she muttered to herself. She turned the paper so Mako and Bolin could read.

The headline was 'Supermoon expected to shine over Republic City tonight'.

"Supermoon?" Bolin asked.

"Yeah," Asami said, pulling the paper back to herself. "The moon's orbit varies a little – sometimes it's closer to Earth, and sometimes it's farther way. A supermoon is when the moon is as close to the Earth as it can get and is a full moon. The effect it that the moon looks huge – hence the name. This happens about once a year, but for different areas of the world. Republic City is getting its fourth since its foundation tonight."

Mako snapped his fingers. "That would make sense," he said, "Since the moon is closer to Earth, it wouldn't matter if it was in the sky or not - the moon is both closer and more full, so it can affect waterbending in two different ways. Does it say anything about waterbenders?"

Asami scanned the article. "No, except that the closeness is expected to negligibly increase waterbender's powers. The full moon is going to do more than the big moon."

"But Korra's not your average waterbender," Bolin said thoughtfully, "So this means that-"

"-she's going to be insanely powerful by the end of the night. We need to tell her."

Bolin and Asami agreed. They paid for their meal and headed off for the next ferry to the Air Temple.

"Supermoon?" Korra asked.

"Yeah," Mako said, "Moonrise is in about a half-hour," he looked up at the stars, which were begining to twinkle. "So you need to be careful tonight, and stay on the island."

Korra nodded. "But can you guys stay awake, too?"

"Why?"

"Well I can't sleep during a full moon night. Too much energy. Could you guys stay awake and maybe bend with me?"

"Yeah," Bolin said, "We'd love to."

"And maybe some good ol' hand-to-hand as well?" Asami asked.

Korra smiled. "That sounds great. Thanks guys."

The four teenagers spent the next half hour talking over tea about probending. The conversation was punctuated by looking over at the probending arena, still being reconstructed.

Suddenly, Korra shivered. "Whoa," she said, "You guys feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"That cold gust of wind." She shivered again, gripping her tea cup. "There it is again. Man, that-"

She stopped and stood up. She started walking towards the sparring arena. "Hey," Mako said, "Where are you going?"

"Bro," Bolin whispered, pointing.

Mako followed Bolin's finger to the sliver of moon that was peaking out over the horizon. "Great spirits," Asami said, "That thing's huge."

Mako nodded. "We need to keep an eye on her."

They followed Korra to the arena. She stopped in the middle, facing the moon, and sat down in a meditative position. The three of them sat down next to her. "You alright?" asked Mako.

"I feel great," Korra said, "Like I just woke up from an excellent night's rest." Mako noticed her muscles were tense. "I really want to bend right now," she said, "But..."

"But what?"

She shrugged. "I don't know what my first move should be," she said. "So many options. So much power," she shivered again, flexing her muscles against the light of the night.

They sat for a couple minutes, watching the moon slowly rise. It was nearly full, you could see a small sliver missing on one side, but it was absolutely enormous. Mako watched as Korra grew more and more excited. When the moon was halfway over the horizon, Korra stood up. "I'm going to the shore," she said, and started running. Mako had never seen her run that fast. They started to chase after her. Mako noticed the drops appearing around her again. She didn't even look like she was trying to bend. He could feel the air around them start to become dry. "Guys, stop." he said.

They did. Mako, Asami, and Bolin watched as Korra jumped over the edge of the arena. The water droplets around her froze and became a slide only a few meters long, nowhere near long enough to make it to the shore. Except the back of the slide melted away and slipped to the front, where it froze and extended the slide. She was generating her own pathway out of a small amount of water. Impressive.

"Wow," said Bolin, "That looks pretty cool. But let's take the steps, alright?"

When they got to the coast, Korra was already waist-deep in the bay. She had taken off all of her clothing, leaving nothing but a cloth bra and underwear. Her body was practically singing – Mako could swear there was a bluish taint to her skin. Around her body the sea water was spinning slowly.

She turned around, and Mako saw that her eyes were wide and full of life. "This is amazing," she shouted back, "I've never felt so much power in me at once. Watch."

She brought one arm up, and a column of water shot into the air. It must have gone at least a hundred meters before beginning to slow and stop and come back down. Korra caught it, opting to shoot it out into the bay with a trememdously loud crash. Mako saw lights turn on back up on the island, casting long shadows that extended into the water.

Above them, the moon was now fully above the horizon. Mako could see that she had become a conduit of the moon's energy, but it was too much for her body to handle. Excess energy was leaking out, taking the form of random bits of water that started to float above the water's surface. Mako was awed by the display of power.

"Hey Korra," shouted Asami, "Can you still bend fire?"

Korra looked back, confused. "Why would I want to do that," she asked, sounding genuinely confused "When I have all of this water?"

And she started to float above the water. Gradually, she rose up until her feet were touching the surface like they would on the floor of a house. She started walking, then running across the water, sliding and performing acrobatics as she did. "Is she freezing the water?" asked Bolin.

"I don't think so," said Mako.

"Wow, now that's insane," said Bolin. "Do you think we should get someone?"

"Why? She isn't hurting anyone. And even if they lock her up or something, she'll just take the water out of the air and escape or something."

"True."

There was a whoosing sound behind them. A ball of water came up from behind them and formed itself into a ring about Korra's waist. "Where'd she get that?" asked Asami. She turned around and gasped. Mako and Bolin turned as well.

Korra had sucked – at least that's what it looked like – the water out of a tree. "What," said Mako. "Okay, that's enough. I think we should get someone."

"No need," said a voice behind them.

Tenzin stood behind them, his cloak billowing in the wind from Korra's water tricks. He slowly walked up to them. "When were you going to tell me that tonight was the night Korra was going to bend so extremely that she disturbed not only the entire island but those living on the coast in the city?"

Silence. Then "We were going to tell you, honest," said Bolin.

"I'm getting reports that there's a 'water monster' out along the coast of the island."

"Well, Mister Tenzin, sir, there isn't a monster, as you can see. Just the Avatar. And a supermoon. He pointed at the moon, hanging over the scene like a lamp.

"Yes, I'm aware of both the supermoon and the effect it's having on Korra. But did it ever occur to you that she might be putting herself in danger?"

"How?" Asami asked. "She's just bending in the water. She's in complete control."

Tenzin sighed. "Ms. Sato, what happens if you feed a young child – say my son, for example – a large amount of sugar."

"Then they get really hyper and start running around," responded Asami.

"Correct. And what happens when the sugar runs out?"

"They crash," said Asami. "Oh,"

"Yes, you see? With no control, Korra's simply a young child with a lot of sugar in her system. Once the moon sets, she'll have none of that and 'crash', as you said. And what'll happen if she 'crashes' while out in the middle of the bay?"

"She might drown?" offered Bolin.

"Exactly. I'm not saying we need to contain her – that would be a terrible idea anyway – but I'll be keeping an eye on her with you.

Mako nodded. That seemed fair enough.

So they spent the night watching Korra enjoy the effects of the supermoon. Every time they thought Korra could do no more, she impressed them with a new trick. Mako could see observers watching the display from the shorelines of Republic City. The things she did ranged from the impressive – she managed to make a dragon out of water and manipulate is as far away as Republic City itself – to the silly – she juggled 20 balls of steam that had the same consistency as ice – to the unique – she rode around on a water-based recreation of Naga.

But the moon eventually set, and as soon as it touched the water Korra's power seemed to disapper. The ice-replica of her home at the South Pole melted and collapsed, and Korra looked back at the coast. Tenzin was meditating, and Mako nudged him. The two of them watched as Korra slowly walked back to shore, sinking as she did so. She walked until she was on solid ground for the first time in hours, like she was in a daze and didn't know where she was. She made eye contact with Tenzin, then Mako. The she smile a smile of contentedness.

Her exhausted body collapsed onto the ground. Tenzin rushed to pick her up, and Mako watched as he and some medics rushed to her side. Her body looked worn out, muscles bluging from overuse. She looked as strong and as fierce as she had ever in her life. Beautiful, some would say.

Mako smiled, holding Asami in his arms. Life as Team Avatar wouldn't be boring, and he thanked the stars and the setting moon for introducing her into their lives.


End file.
